Strikeforce light heavyweight Trevor Smith likes to dive for leg locks when he's in trouble on the feet, and he said he told referee Kim Winslow as much prior to a weekend bout.

"I said if I get hit, I like to dive for legs and go under, so just make sure you don't stop the fight unless I'm out cold and taking a number of blows," Smith today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "It's your responsibility to protect me, but let it go as long as you can.

"She made some kind of comment like, 'I've been doing this for a while – I know how to stop fights.'"

Smith (9-2 MMA, 2-1 SF) dove for Gian Villante's legs less than a minute into their preliminary-card fight at "Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine," which took place this Saturday at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. It and aired on Showtime Extreme prior to the night's Showtime-televised main card.

Villante (9-3 MMA, 2-2 SF) began firing hammerfists down on Smith's head, some of which went landed illegally. Then, Winslow stopped the fight at the 65-second mark.